Electronic commerce integration

ABSTRACT

An information system environment is described that, among other things, facilitates integration of electronic commerce and physical store front retailer selling channels. In some realizations, the system includes a shopper accessible kiosk co-located with a physical store front retailer and an electronic commerce information service accessible from locations external to the physical store front retailer. Both access inventory information supplied from a suitable information service. The shopper accessible kiosk allows a user thereof to access inventory information particular to the physical store front retailer, while the electronic commerce information service allows a user thereof to order items from out of stock of the physical store front retailer.

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/184,819, filed Feb. 25, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to electronic commerce techniques.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, electronic commerce has become a popular sellingchannel, particularly for technology oriented goods and services. At thesame time; inventory systems employed by traditional physical storefront businesses, often called “bricks and mortar” businesses, havebecome increasingly sophisticated. Unfortunately, electronic commercesites and the physical store front have, for the most part remainedseparate selling channels. An opportunity exists to integrate aspects ofthe two selling channels and to provide improved shopping experiencesfor purchasers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary functional block diagram of an informationsystem in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

This document describes a system that allows tighter integration betweentraditional retail via bricks and mortar stores, with on—line businessesoperated by the same company, or simply to streamline traditionalbusiness in the absence of an on—line presence. It allows businesses tomaximize sales through existing channels while at the same time helpe-business get started or increase revenues. It does this by providing asystem which maximizes the shopping experience for the customer, as wellas providing multiple ways for the customer to interact with the retailbusiness. It allows any business the edge over competitors who do notemploy computer aided purchasing or companies that currently maintaintraditional retail and electronic retail as separate businesses.

Imagine a typical scenario. You want to fix a plumbing leak from abackflow preventer on an outside faucet. There are a number of home orhardware stores in the vicinity, and several on line businesses. Youcould buy the product on line, but really want to do the job today. Yougo to the nearest and biggest home store to purchase the replacementpiece. On arrival at the store, you must first locate the section forplumbing. After walking the aisles in the plumbing section several timeslooking in all the nooks and crannies you don't see what you are lookingfor, nor even an empty space where it used to be. You look for a storerepresentative. There are none in the vicinity so you go in search ofone. You eventually find one but they don't have a clue what you aretalking about. Next you go to customer service. They don't know what itis either. You ask them to look it up on their computer. They don't havea way to do that. You really want to leave the store right now, but justat that minute a veteran sales person tells you they are in the seasonaldepartment. Now imagine the same scenario using this business system.First, you check the store on line to see if it carries the item and ifthey are in stock. Then, you note the location of the item in the store,or maybe build a list of all the items that you want to purchase. Nowyou go to the store, pick up your purchases and leave. Maybe while youwere in the store you thought of another piece that you needed, thewashers for the hose fitting. You can use the in store kiosk or maybeyour cell phone browser to locate the extra piece.

This example is just one of many ways the enhanced services described inmore detail later on can benefit the consumer.

Overview

The illustration in FIG. 1 shows the main outline of the system. Themain blocks show different physical locations such as the consumer's webbrowser, the on line store, and the traditional retail outlets. It mightbe that the physical location of the e business could be the same as oneor more bricks and mortar stores, but that does not matter for thissystem. The system includes several web servers coupled with back endinventory control systems. The web servers are responsible for servingthe relevant content according to the type and physical location of aparticular activity. The different physical locations for the consumerto use the services include at his/her home or place of work where theyhave a computer, in the store itself through a kiosk, or possibly vialow bandwidth services offered up over the consumer's cell phone.

Advantages of some realizations of the proposed system include:

-   1. Removal of boundaries between on-line business and traditional    business.-   2. Removal of boundaries for access to the system.-   3. Removal of boundaries between supply side of the business and the    sell side.-   4. Tight integration between all of the components, but with    flexible presentation.-   5. Provide a tool that can be used equally by the consumer and the    store assistants or business managers.-   6. Turns a store into a virtual warehouse for an on-line customer.-   7. Turn an on-line business warehouse into a source for a bricks and    mortar customer.-   8. Provide side by side cost and delivery comparisons between buying    on-line or at a bricks and mortar store.-   9. Allows the customers to participate in the maintenance of the    site information.    Not all realizations will exhibit all advantages.    Platform

This system is designed to be implemented using facilities such asprovided by the Multi Channel Commerce system (MCC), available fromTrilogy Software, Inc., Austin, Tex., but could equally well beimplemented using any web technology current or future which is capableof providing the same level of integration and scalability as MCC. MCCis a system which enables integration of web, application, and databaseservers in a distributed n-tier architecture. It provides the conceptsof services which implement and perform specific functions as a server,and modules which talk to services as clients. MCC also manages theseparation of content and presentation. For the remainder of thisdocument we will mainly be concerned with services, used in a moregeneric fashion to describe core functions that the system will provide.In an actual MCC implementation most of these core functions would beimplemented as MCC services. These services may, but need notnecessarily contain state information. In this implementation thecomponents are loosely coupled but the data is tightly coupled, allowinggreater flexibility and easier maintenance. Facilities, such as the SAPconnector, also available from Trilogy Software, Inc., may also beemployed in some realizations.

Kiosks

In-store kiosks are well known in the art and any of a number ofimplementations are suitable. For a kiosk to succeed, it is desirablethat it include a simple interface that everyone can use. As the webbrowser becomes a regular part of everyone's lives this presents anideal interface with which a lot of people are familiar. The addedbenefit is that it is relatively easy and inexpensive to set up lowpower computers as a machine running nothing but a web browser. Thecontent served up at the browser running at a kiosk has contentallowable, and modified for, that location. See the detailed descriptionthat follows for more information on how this works.

Easy Maintenance

An interesting aspect of the approach used by this system is the abilityof the consumer to also be able to perform maintenance in the form ofraising errors and posting corrections. Another aspect is that the toolcan equally well be used by store employees to perform tasks such asstocking shelves. The tool will guide the location to be stocked andcould be used to print out orders to store personnel. Keeping track ofstock on the shelves is also simplified by this system. Coupling to theback office systems (e.g. using Trilogy SAP connector) closes the loop.The immediate benefits to a store implementing such a system in additionto the obvious ones such as customer satisfaction, would be to reducethe amount of training required for store staff, and to streamline theactual business of running the store.

Details

In Store Web Server

In some realizations, this is the central hub of the system. It not onlyserves information, but also decides on the appropriate content based onthe consumer's usage context. It features a number of services, whichare responsible for the particular content and activities within theconsumer's browser. There are normal services found on most E-commercesites such as the shopping cart. The additional services are whatdistinguish this system and provide the functionality discussed in thevision section. The Web server resides on top of a relational databasewhich contains content data, application control data, and item data.The web server can either pull or have data pushed to it from the backend inventory control system. Coupling with such a back end system maybe accomplished using any of a variety of techniques such as thoseprovided by a connection layer such as the Trilogy SAP connector.

Content Management Service

This service is aware of the consumer's physical location and isresponsible for controlling content and functionality available based onthat location. For example, a person browsing the site at an in-storekiosk would not be able to browse the whole web directly, and would seecontent and functionality relevant to that particular store. The user'ssession state information stores this location as it is fundamental toseveral of the services. Based on previous interaction that a consumerhas had at a particular location, additional levels of personalizationwould be possible. For instance a customer might be able to view hispurchase history.

Map Service

An underlying mapping service functionality facilitates the businessmodel described herein. A two or three dimensional map of the store,which can be zoomed and otherwise interacted with, can be displayed inresponse to location queries, or used as a gateway for location queriesdirectly. The basis of the map, the layout of physical entities withinthe store such as racks, walkways, displays etc are laid out in a bitmapof one or more layers. This is constructed using a maintenance tool,which links the drawing to a three-dimensional coordinate space. Thisbasic map can be implemented in Java or any other technology fordisplaying graphical data within a client web browser. The map is tiedto physical inventory data from the Web Server's database. The inventoryitems carry additional properties, which give an item's stock locationin the same three-dimensional coordinates as the basic map. Given anitem's SKU data, the map service displays the location of the itemwithin the store. This map service can also be used by store personnelto find the proper location when stocking the shelves. Given the item'sSKU the lookup for physical location is a simple SQL query to thedatabase. Once the data is retrieved, it is related to the base map andthe location is displayed at the smallest zoom level. Zooming in willgive a better view down to a shelf or rack view, which can display theitem's location exactly. Because the maintenance overhead of thisinformation could be high, especially with moved or misplaced items, thecustomer as well as store personnel is able to enter feedback on theactual location of the item. Of course, this would require storepersonnel confirmation to prevent malicious damage.

Locator Service

In some realizations, this service actually combines multiple functions.The first is to find an item when the consumer knows what he wants andcan describe it, but doesn't know the name for the item. In this part ofthe service, keywords and phrases are entered into the database foritems using the maintenance tool. The keywords and phrases mightdescribe the physical composition of the article, what it does, or howit does it. In some realizations, the technology is similar to thatemployed by existing web search engines. In others, a method is providedfor easy search queries and easy maintenance in a way designedspecifically for the retail of items. Instead of searching the web orsite, the query is issued directly against those fields in the databasemaintained specifically for that purpose. The tool is also able tocapture the queries that customers enter, and link them directly to theitems when successfully located, providing a richer basis for futurecustomers. It is possible to refine the scope of a query by linkingitems to relevant categories specific to the particular retail business,for example “Plumbing and toilets”. In this example if the way, andsearch keywords or phrases might include the following “rubber”,“flapper”, “controls flushing”, “goes up and down when you push thehandle”, “fix leaking toilet”.

Once the item to be located has been successfully identified, the nextpart of the service is to locate the item for the customer. This part ofthe service is aware of the physical location of the consumer. If theconsumer were browsing from a remote location, the service would attemptto locate the item in the store of choice, the nearest store or theon-line business. The preference of where to look is controlled by theconsumer and could optionally be tied to a personalization profile forthat user. If the consumer were already in a store then the locationwould primarily be directed at that store. Failure to locate the item instore would pass over to a search at other stores or on line, by passingthrough the inter store connector service. Part of the service isresponsible for serving the same query results to other stores thatmight be looking for the item. Once the consumer has decided upon asource location for the item, the service talks directly to the mapservice to give a precise location within the store.

Inter Store Connector Service

This service is responsible for managing a complex topology of storesand business and channeling or marshalling requests to the appropriatestores or warehouse. For example a location request might be passed onin order of closest geographical location. Each store, distributioncenter, or warehouse has information in the database that is relevant,such as address, zip code, geographical coordinates, hours of businessetc. For example it may or may not make sense to channel a request to astore that was currently closed. This could be extended to include otherbusinesses in a partnership.

Store Feedback Service

This provides multiple functions.

-   1. Provide normal customer satisfaction feedback to the store.-   2. Provide a way for customers to participate in site maintenance.-   3. Provide alarms for intervention by store personnel.-   4. Provide a direct service request to store personnel.

This service is based on user ID and user type. For example, when a userof the map service decides to enter feedback on a misplaced item, storepersonnel have to review the request and approve it. An alarm could besent to the store personnel and they could decide to move the item toits correct location or to simply update the data records. If a customerat a kiosk wants direct help from a store assistant, and none wasreadily available, pressing a button would send a request for assistanceat that location. The consumer would optionally be asked to providedetail of the type of assistance required.

Virtual Store Service

This service is not to provide on-line shopping, but to provide a way tonavigate the bricks and mortar store in the same way you can browse anon-line store. It features content about the departments and services aswell as links to the map. The information presented by this service isclosely linked to the map by regions. Each region not only hascoordinate properties but also custom content which can be managedindependently by each department.

Delivery and Pickup Services

These services are about how the consumer takes possession of the itemsbeing purchased. This spans the gap completely between on-line andtraditional shopping. There are now three ways for a customer at abricks and mortar store to take ownership of a purchased item. Asidefrom the normal way of visiting the store and walking around to collectthe items, the customer can have the products ordered remotely beavailable for either pickup or delivery. Similarly the delivery servicecan be used by a customer already in the store to have large itemsdelivered as normal. These services are closely tied to the pricingengine to dynamically apply the rules for additional cost for thesepremium services. Such rules as “The customer spends more than onethousand dollars then delivery is free” are easily entered and applied.

While the invention has been described with reference to variousembodiments, it will be understood that these embodiments areillustrative and that the scope of the invention is not limited to them.Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements arepossible. Plural instances may be provided for components describedherein as a single instance. Boundaries between various components,operations and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particularoperations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrativeconfigurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned andmay fall within the scope of claims that follow. Structures andfunctionality presented as discrete components in the exemplaryconfigurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component.These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvementsmay fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims thatfollow.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information system suitable for integration ofelectronic commerce and physical store front retailer selling channels,the information system comprising: an inventory control informationservice; a shopper accessible kiosk co-located with the physical storefront retailer, the shopper accessible kiosk allowing a user thereof toaccess inventory information particular to the physical store frontretailer from the inventory control information service; and anelectronic commerce information service separate from the shopperaccessible kiosk and instead accessible to consumers via web browsersfrom locations external to the physical store front retailer, theelectronic commerce information service allowing a user thereof to orderan item from either (i) the inventory of the physical store frontretailer or (ii) from inventory of a distribution center cooperativewith the physical store front retailer, wherein the item is available tothe user from both the inventory of the physical store front retailerand that of the distribution center.
 2. The information system of claim1, further comprising: a physical location identification serviceaccessible via either or both of the shopper accessible kiosk and theelectronic commerce information service, the physical locationidentification service coupled to the inventory control informationservice to identify a particular item from current stock and to identifytherefor a physical location within the physical store front retailer.3. The information system of claim 1, wherein the inventory controlinformation service represents an inventory state that spans thephysical store front retailer and at least one other location.
 4. Theinformation system of claim 3, wherein the at least one other locationincludes the distribution center.
 5. The information system of claim 3,wherein the at least one other location includes a second physical storefront retailer.
 6. The information system of claim 1, wherein theinventory information particular to the store front retailer includesone or more of stock status, pricing, and catalog information.
 7. Theinformation system of claim 1, wherein the locations external to thephysical store front retailer include one or more of: the user's home;the user's Office; and a location accessible via the Internet.
 8. Theinformation system of claim 1, wherein the electronic commerceinformation service is also accessible from a location in the physicalstore front retailer via a wireless communications link and wirelesscommunications device.
 9. A computer program product, encoded in one ormore non-transitory machine-readable media, that manages presentationand availability of a retailer's physical in-store inventory informationbased at least in part on whether the inventory information is to bepresented remote from the retailer's physical store location toconsumers via web browsers or to consumers via an in-store kiosk, andthat allows consumers to order via web browsers for pick-up or deliveryfrom the retailer's physical store location inventory and from adistribution center inventory of the retailer, wherein the computerprogram product manages presentation and availability of the physicalin-store inventory information via the in-store kiosk based at least inpart on the in-store kiosk's physical location.
 10. The computer programproduct of claim 9, wherein the computer program product also managespresentation and availability of navigational information that allowsnavigation of the retailer's physical location.
 11. The computer programproduct of claim 9, wherein the computer program product managescustomer feedback provided through one or more of the in-store kiosk andthe Internet.
 12. A computer program product for providing multiplechannels of access to retail inventory information, encoded on one ormore non-transitory machine-readable media, the computer program productcomprising: a first database interface that either pulls or receives orboth pulls and receives a retailer's physical in-store inventoryinformation from a first database; a second database interface thateither pulls or receives or both pulls and receives distribution centerinventory information from a second database; a web interface thatprovides the retailer's physical in-store inventory information and thedistribution center inventory information to a consumer over theInternet via web browsers, and that allows the consumer to order an itemfrom either (i) the retailer's physical in-store inventory or (ii) fromthe distribution center's inventory in accordance with providedinventory information thereof, wherein the item is available to theconsumer from both the inventory of the retailer and that of thedistribution center; and a sequence of instructions for controllingcontent availability and functionality availability based at least inpart on the channel of access and, if the channel of access is anin-store kiosk, physical kiosk location, wherein the content andfunctionality corresponds to retail inventory information.
 13. Thecomputer program product of claim 12 wherein the content andfunctionality also corresponds with one or more of physical storenavigational information, inventory locational information, andpurchasing information.
 14. An information system comprising: in-storeinventory control to host in-store inventory information for a physicalretail store location; a distribution center inventory control to hostdistribution center inventory information for a distribution centercooperative with the physical retail store location; a set of one ormore web servers communicatively coupled with the in-store inventorycontrol and the distribution center inventory control, the web serversto provide the in-store inventory information and the distributioncenter inventory information, and to allow consumers to order from thephysical retail store location's inventory and the distribution center'sinventory in accordance with the inventory information thereof; and aset of one or more in-store kiosks in the physical retail storelocation, communicatively coupled with the web servers, the set ofkiosks to provide in-store inventory information.
 15. The informationsystem of claim 14 further comprising an Internet gatewaycommunicatively coupled with the set of web servers and co-located withthe kiosks.